Blake "V Kulla" Corner - Contributor

Blake “broodax” Corner is currently a college student working on a Creative Writing degree. The best way to describe Blake is as a hardcore co-op gamer with an appreciation for good old-school games. A gamer since childhood, his earliest gaming memories are of playing an old Atari 2600. He’s been a co-op fan for all his life, but until recently his focus was single-player. However, one of his fondest gaming memories was playing ToeJam and Earl on the Sega Genesis as a kid, so co-op gaming is in his blood.

Currently, he’s become fond of co-op games, particularly because of having a gamer for a roommate, who also happens (like Blake) to be a Smash Brothers addict. In the time that he does not spend frantically keeping up with mounds of homework (or reading a 500 pages books for “fun), he plays casual co-op games like Castle Crashers and Geometry Wars. Blake is unsure about his future plans or career, but playing and writing about video games is a good start, in his opinion.

A million billion years ago (OK, more like 2008), I wrote an article about open world co-op games and their overall awesomeness. The examples I used were Crackdown and GTA IV, but the list wasnâ€™t a long one to choose from at the time, though Mercenaries 2 and Saints Row 2 came out around the time of the article and didnâ€™t get a fair mention. Well, itâ€™s been four years. Have the co-op gods been good to open world fans?

Well, the holiday season is upon us. It’s cold outside and families are gathering together for fun and food and gifts. So, opportunities for co-op should be rampant. This was true for me, since I got some quality time with one of my favorite co-op games. This game is great for family togetherness and unity. I’m speaking of course about Left 4 Dead. There’s nothing like a zombie apocalypse to bring family together.

This week was essentially Left 4 Dead week for me, since I finally got my hands on the game. After playing it and beating all the campaigns, I walked away very impressed. The game never really gets dull, and I just keep coming back for more. Also, the game is a “great co-op moment” machine, and I could list at least a dozen common moments in the game that are great moments in co-op. However, one of the best co-op moments of the game is one of the first ones you will encounter in the game: the Horde.

In many ways, co-op gaming is going through a sort of renaissance. The past few years have been a rebirth for co-op and 2007/2008 could be considered “Co-Op Year.” With most systems having several AAA titles featuring co-op (including Halo 3, Resistance 2, etc.). However, many would say that this renaissance of co-op gaming could not have happened without online co-op. This is because the rebirth of co-op seems to have coincided with the rise of online co-op.

As you might be noticing, you are reading an article…by me…on a Monday. Well, today marks the debut of “Great Moments in Co-Op,” a sort of bite-sized article that will be featured every Monday. This article will not be as long as other articles, partially because like most of you, I don’t function well on Mondays. So, we have a nice little article that will make your case of the Mondays hopefully go away. Also, take note, there will be spoilers in most of these articles, but normally they are from the first half of games. So read on at your own risk.

For me, the best co-op games are the ones that make me feel like a total geek while playing them. Left 4 Dead did this for me, since I was constantly remarking how it was like 28 Days Later, in addition to other obscure zombie movie references. The only way the co-op game can be any more fun is if I am surrounded by other people basking in geekery. Fortunately I got the chance this week, as I played a game that is essentially a perfect storm for geeks: Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

As you can see, this is not "This Week in Co-Op." Today marks the debut of a new column, "Great Features in Co-Op Gaming," that will alternate with This Week in Co-Op. So, this week you get our new column, next week it's back to This Week in Co-op. Well, with that clarified, let's get on with the column. This column is dedicated to discussing fun features that make co-op games worth playing. Everyone has played a co-op game and (to themselves or aloud) said "Oh man, 'feature x' is so cool" So, what feature is the focus for this week? Open world/sandbox gameplay.

I don't quite know how to start this article. However, that's really a good thing. Frankly there are too many cool features, "OMG" moments, and cinematic moments for me to be able to quickly and smoothly start this article. Heck, any one the aforementioned topics could easily take up an entire article. I guess all I can really say is that this week, I played the Left 4 Dead demo on the Xbox 360.

Well, after a two week hiatus, This Week in Co-Op is back. Since Gears of War 2 has been quite the popular game recently, I decided to play the original Gears of War. Gears 2 has received pretty good reviews, much like it's predecessor. Also, (unsurprisingly) Gears of War 2 is much like it's predecessor as far as gameplay goes, though there are some fun additions (Horde Mode, enough said). So, with all this in mind, I decided to play the original Gears of War in order to see why Gears 2 has captured my attention so much.

Penny Arcade is normally a good source of critical coverage of gaming news, even though they are first and foremost a webcomic. However, they normally are able to combine critical analysis and fun webcomic goodness. An example of this is their recent comic about Little Big Planetand its delay. In the comic, they remark that the inclusion of a song with lyrics from the Qur'an is not nearly as bad as the kind of stuff that the online commuity will come up with.

Co-Optimus has been on a bit of a Phantasy Star mood recently. What with more info about the new DS game, Phantasy Star Zero, we were itching for more Phantasy Star info. Fortunately, we discovered more info about another portable version of Phantasy Star. 1UP has word that Phantasy Star Portable will be headed stateside this coming March. The game is coming out for the PSP, and takes place after Phantasy Star Universe. It will have a single-player storyline, as well as a multiplayer component.

Not too long ago, we discussed the fact that Phantasy Star Zero would have online (and local wireless) co-op. However, details of the game have been scarce for a while. Fortunately, the crew at Siliconera got some hands-on time at TGS and walked away with some details. Some of the information is just confirmation of old news. The game is very much like PSO, and features the same action-RPG gameplay. Likewise, the game's messaging system is akin to Pictochat, though apparently it features a few chat bubbles that likely deal with common statements, like "resurrect me."